A Rush to Love and Judgement
by PierceTheVeils
Summary: When Franziska's dreams of crushing Phoenix Wright in court are shattered, she travels across the world to give the fool a piece of her mind. She doesn't expect to find a small girl sleeping on the couch of his apartment, but knows right away how she wants to handle the situation. One shot, done for a prompt on the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme.


A Rush to Love and Judgement

Franziska Von Karma was wrapping up a case in Zheng Fa when she heard the news. The call from her little brother was enough to send her whip flying into the nearest human. Lucky for Agent Shi Long Lang, he was paying attention and caught the tip in time.

"Woah, sis! Bad news from California?"

One could say that again. She couldn't believe he would do something so foolish! How could he disappoint her so? The prosecutor would never have suspected-

She couldn't believe how her dreams of beating Phoenix Wright in court would never be realized. And for a reason as ridiculous as forged evidence! As if Phoenix Wright would ever be foolish enough to pull that trick in court. It was humiliating enough when he beat Franziska in court those two years ago. If he'd done it using forged evidence...

No. She didn't believe that. Not even for a second. He never would have fooled her or her little brother pulling tricks like that, and he wouldn't change his habits so drastically in a mere two months. There was something else going on here. That was the only conclusion Franziska (and, if she were honest, her pride) would accept. The only one Miles Edgeworth would as well, if the phone call were any indication.

She cut him off. "Say no more, little brother. I'm on my way." And with that, the call ended.

Lang asked her where she was going. She didn't answer. Lang was a smart agent; he would be able to discern her plans from the evidence he'd collected. As of today, the two of them were officially between cases. Before she boarded the plane, he promised to call her about their next case when it was assigned. Good man, that Lang.

Franziska landed in LAX late that night, but she didn't stop at a hotel, or inform her brother of her plans. Miles Edgeworth didn't even know she was here yet. Neither did that foolishly foolish fool of a man. It was the amount of warning a man like him deserved.

Don't ask how she knew where the fool lived. It wasn't a lead worth pursuing.

 _Bang! Bang! BANG!_ She knocked on his door with her whip in hand, the last time harder than the rest. The pitiful sound of shuffling came from the other side of the door, followed by the sound of a lock slowly turned.

The door opened, hallway light shining down onto... a child?

"Hello, ma'am! Can Daddy and I help you?"

Daddy? Who was this small girl? Did she have the wrong apartment?

Franziska put her whip down, a sudden rush of embarrassment overcoming her. "And you are?"

"My name is Trucy!" Oh, that adorable smile of hers. Her messy brown hair, and a Troupe Gramarye nightgown. Franziska was shocked. She was about to try another door when-

"Trucy! Don't open the door for strangers. You never know who might be lurking outside at..." Phoenix Wright's voice trailed off when he saw who was in the doorway. He blinked the sleep from his eyes, trying to ensure he wasn't imagining things. "Prosecutor Von Karma?"

"Phoenix Wright!" she declared, getting some of her energy back from earlier. "You have some explaining to do. How dare you remove yourself from the courtroom in such disgrace!"

Did he seriously roll his eyes at her? The nerve! "If you're here to yell at me, can you do it inside? And maybe a bit quieter?"

She obliged his request, watching as he tucked the child back into her makeshift bed on the couch. She felt a warmth in her chest as the little girl piped down, smiling as she snuggled in her blanket. After a minute of hesitation, he brought her into his bedroom so they could continue their conversation.

"Whose child is that?"

"As of a few weeks ago? Mine."

The German lady was taken aback. "You lost your job, have yet to find another means of gainful employment, and your first instinct is to adopt a child?" It wasn't what Franziska had been planning to whip him for, but whip him for it she did. "You fool! And how do you plan to provide for this new daughter of yours, exactly?"

"I couldn't just leave her in the orphanage! I'm the reason she doesn't have a father."

Franziska had read enough about his final trial to figure things out from there. She sighed, lowering her whip slightly. "Shadi Enigmar's foolish decision to abandon his daughter instead of face justice is not to be blamed on you. My question remains."

"So you already know about the case, huh? Did Edgeworth tell you? I didn't think I was enough for international headlines."

She whipped the ex-lawyer a second time. "Stop avoiding the question! How do you plan to make sure that child has the life she deserves? Are you really going to leave her in this city's squalid public schools? You know they're dysfunctional and underfunded. How will you make sure she has enough to eat every night? When will she have a bed of her own? What are you going to do when she outgrows the clothing she currently wears?" Franziska could feel her hackles rising in defense of that young girl. She'd only just met her, and yet she already felt like it was her job to look out for the kid. "Why would you adopt a child if you have no means of caring for her? Why would your country's child services allow for such a thing?"

"They let your father have Edgeworth. How good do you think they are at their jobs?" Phoenix pointed out, then sighed. "I don't know the answers to all that just yet. But I do know that Trucy... she's such a bright girl. Talented, too. She's been pushing me to get back on my feet, and even tried to apply for a job of her own. It might be a bit selfish, but I want that energy in my life. I could use some light around here."

Not that she would say it, but Franziska always considered incurable optimism to be a trademark of her interactions with Phoenix Wright. His belief in hopeless cases had been frustrating and irrational, but admirable all the same. The thought that he might have lost that spark, or had to rely on another to provide it, was a cause for concern.

Yet no matter how she felt for the fallen lawyer, the child was far more important. "Phoenix Wright. As a father, you ought to know you have no room to be selfish any longer. An innocent child now relies on you for her own well-being. You have her life in your hands not for days, but for years. Only the cruelest of humans would mistreat or neglect a child they themselves adopted."

For a moment, there was silence. Franziska turned away from the man she was lecturing, a faraway cast to her eyes.

She hadn't always been so passionate about this subject. The implicit belief that adopted children were inferior had been silently reinforced through much of her childhood. Whenever Franziska saw her papa treat her little brother in a way he'd never treat her, that was how he'd justify himself. Franziska, not knowing any better, had always believed him, as had her sister. It haunted her when she looked back. The things that had been done to her little brother, all under her nose... These past few years, she'd questioned a lot of beliefs she'd once held about her family. About Papa, about her little brother... about herself, as well.

When she saw that little girl, those big eyes and messy brown hair, Franziska had once again felt like a small child. But things weren't going to happen like they did back then. Things were going to be different this time. She was slowly becoming sure of it.

"Prosecutor Von- Franziska. I know that. You have to believe me. I'm going to be the best father I can for Trucy. She's the reason I'm working so hard to appeal my case. She's the reason I'm going to get back on my feet. Maya can't help me anymore, Edgeworth needs to realize he can't either, but Trucy... Trucy's the reason I'm still fighting this fight. Without her... I don't know where I'd be now.

"You don't have to tell me to get my act together for her. You don't need to tell me how difficult this is all going to be. I know. I know, and I'm going to do it regardless."

Franziska didn't have an immediate answer to that. "Phoenix Wright... your foolish stubbornness is what put you in this sorry state. I may not know who did this to you, or why, but if their intent was to bring you down, they aren't going to take an innocent child with them." Putting her whip away, Franziska pulled something else out from her skirt pocket. A wallet.

"Franziska, that's... you don't have to do this for me."

"Fool! I'm not doing this for you." Crap! In Franziska's rush to get here, she'd forgotten to exchange her money when she'd left the airport. Had she really paid a cab driver in Zheng Fa'ian coin?

Embarrassed, she opened the door slowly, laughing a bit when it (predictably) ran into a small body, who then scampered back to the couch to hide.

Franziska kept her tone light. "Come now, little child. I know you were listening to us just now."

"Only because you were talking about me!" Trucy crossed her arms, head to the side. "Who are you, anyway?"

"My name is Franziska Von Karma," she answered, small smile on her face. "I came here to check on things."

"You're not one of those social workers, are you?" Trucy was wary. "You don't have to take me away, okay? Daddy's taking care of me just fine! We're gonna get things back on track around here. Just you wait!"

"Oh no. I'm not here for that. Nor am I a social worker."

"What are you, then?" Her eyes landed on Franziska's whip and lit up. "Are you an animal tamer? Like the one I saw in that circus once?"

"Er, no..." Franziska took her prosecutor's badge out of her pocket, handing it to Trucy to examine. "I'm a prosecutor. That means I catch criminals and put them away."

"A prosecutor tried to put my daddy away, too. That's why he had to disappear." Trucy looked to be on the verge of tears, then clasped her hands around Franziska's badge. "Just like this!" She lifted the couch blanket with her other hand, waving it around the hand with the badge. When she put it down and opened both hands, the badge was gone.

"Trucy! Give Franziska her badge back," Phoenix scolded her. "Sorry. She likes to do that with household items."

But Franziska wasn't upset. "What a perfect little trick! Do you like to preform magic, Miss Trucy Wright?"

"I do!" The little girl laughed, showing Franziska trick after trick until it was well after midnight. Phoenix tried to interrupt the pair several times, only succeeding when Franziska herself agreed it was late enough for an eight year old to be awake. She left Phoenix's apartment in relatively good spirits. Phoenix was left confused.

That confusion would only continue two days later, when Franziska showed up at Phoenix's office with a complete beginner's set of magician's props. Trucy already had several of the items in the package, but loved the gift nonetheless. When Franziska got the call from Lang about leaving for Codophia, Trucy demanded she and Phoenix see her off at the airport, smiling and waving as Franziska walked away.

"She and Franziska seem to have hit it off. I must say, this is not what I was expecting when she said she was coming to this country," Edgeworth commented dryly to Phoenix. He too was puzzled about the new development, but would go on to discover Franziska's motives before Phoenix even had a clue. Probably because he knew her better.

In that time, the international prosecutor was to become known as "Aunt Franziska" to the little girl she doted on, dropping in to spoil her whenever her work allowed it. Even when she was on the other side of the world, she still made Trucy feel special with souvenirs and postcards. Going less noticed by Trucy were her contributions to Trucy's tuition at a local international school, where she learned German just to please her. She (along with Edgeworth) tried to give money more directly to Phoenix as well, but he refused it. She wasn't particularly good at helping him find a job either, having never struggled with such a thing herself.

It made it easier for Phoenix to know he wasn't going it alone in raising Trucy. That there would always be more than one person out there willing to love and care for her. That his struggles with money didn't have to leave his daughter wanting.

It was exactly what he needed to make it through such a dark time in his life.

* * *

 **A/N's: It's been a while since I was able to say this, but this sweet little one-shot was inspired by a prompt on the kink meme. I hope I did it justice, because that prompt is:**

 **Somebody did an adorable fan-art of Trucy running into Franzy's arms yelling "Aunt Franziska!" and Franzy has a huge grin on her face. I'd like to believe that when Franziska heard about Nick's disbarrment, she planned on confronting him, whip in hand, letting him know what a foolishly foolish thing it was to foolishly allow himself into that foolish predicament...until she sees little Trucy's big blue eyes! Franzy adores her and spoils her rotten - riding lessons, buys her clothes, teaches her German, the whole works!**  
 **Phoenix and Miles aren't sure what to make of this...**

 **It's not quite as light as (I feel) the prompt was looking for, but I really wanted to explore the reasons Franziska might be motivated to do what the prompt suggests. Her sibling relationship with Edgeworth is a precious one, in my eyes, and the thought of her seeing Edgeworth's situation in Trucy's and wanting her to have a better childhood than he did is a premise too delicious to pass up on. Writing this, and not the next chapter in an ongoing series for once, was refreshing. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.**

 **Thanks for reading, don't forget to leave your thoughts, and I'll see you on the far side!**


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